White Flag Warrior 101 Institute

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Comment by Etaks Ordinario on July 4, 2011 at 4:21am

great group !

Comment by Lexi on July 28, 2010 at 9:47am

I miss you guys! and yes I'm still alive! I'll write up my postworkshop thoughts when I get off work tonight :3

Comment by MOTHER SCIENCE ALLIANCE on July 10, 2010 at 8:54pm

Mother Science agrees with this topic WE ARE IN NEED OF RESULTS, SOLUTIONS, We put some thought to this and get back to this discussion.

Comment by Nicole on July 10, 2010 at 7:32pm

Looking for others' thoughts...

Comment by Nicole on July 6, 2010 at 1:19pm

Thanks Alicia :)

Comment by Alicia on July 6, 2010 at 12:32pm

Nicole, I created a discussion for your post. It's easier to keep track of comments that are specific to that discussion. Feel free to start others.

Comment by Gabriel on July 6, 2010 at 2:58am

www.defendatlantis.com #justsayin

Comment by Nicole on July 3, 2010 at 9:37pm

Thanks Alex. Checking it out now...

Comment by Alex Algebra on July 3, 2010 at 9:33pm

Nicole - Awesome post that I don't have the brains/time to reply completely to in this second, but check out the Portland Plan process. They've put a lot of power into the people of Portland's hands on giving direction to where the city should put its resources. I can tell you more about it later as I've been to a couple of the meetings.

Comment by Nicole on July 3, 2010 at 4:18pm

Hi everyone,

I miss you all so much. The week of the institute was so intense (in a GOOD way) and I feel like we all learned a lot from one another and about ourselves through the experience. I think that week gave many of us who haven't been to FWT events before a great foundation. I'd like to hear what it did for those who had already been to gatherings and what they gained from the institute. One of the things I keep thinking back on is Mu Son's vision example while we were all in the midst of deep discussion. He used steel water bottles to show us that if we were only looking at the long term dream and not paying attention to what was in front of us we could potentially run over others or forget some really important things while trying to reach that vision. That resonated with me in the moment, but more so when I returned home and had all of these visions in my mind of what I would like to see in my community. I realize that the process of creating positive change needs to be a careful/well thought out one. I also don't know where to begin. I felt so inspired while at the institute and for the first week back at home, but I didn't know how to implement that feeling and hold onto it.

Two days ago I attended a community visioning meeting in my area ( I live in a small coastal area with canals and a nature preserve) hoping to connect with those in my community in even the slightest way resembling the institute, but the meeting was very political and set up in a power vs. the sheep manner. My mom and I walked into the meeting and there was a table set up higher than the rest of the tables with a blue cloth on it for all of the "officials" such as county comissioners and representatives of the sherrifs dept. to sit. They had microphones and a projector etc. up there and they spent the first half of the meeting talking at us in a downward fashion. The rest of us sat in lined up white tables with chairs as if we were in a classroom and were only allowed to speak when they called on our tables. For the actual visioning of the community we were given work sheets to rank what was most important to us based on lists they had come up with at a previous meeting. There didn't seem to be much room for us to express much of what we wanted to share, but I guess this wasn't the kind of gathering for something like that...but should it really be acceptable for a community meeting to go this way? Just because it's the standard format does that mean it's what's expected and it's what we should do?

I think communities would probably benefit a lot more from sitting at eye level with one another and taking off their shoes. The circle aspect is also really important. It creates a sense of unity and takes away from some of the power dynamics in other set ups.

Forgive me for rambling and possibly going off on a tangent. I think what keeps getting to me over and over again is how to maintain the level of inspiration felt by many who attended WFW 101. I know we all have different visions and different ways of creating change in the world so it is really up to us individually to be the change we wish to see, but I also know that our week together awoke so many of us into activating.

My question is how do we harness that energy again after time has passed and we are no longer surrounded by a group of like minded individuals? Do we seek out like minds in our own communities? Do we try to create a reliable/continuously updated network on here? I feel that since we are a foundation for eachother we should really start checking in with one another via this website. I know we are all busy and have our own lives and responsibilities, but don't we owe it to eachother and ourselves to keep re-energizing this group and helping to inspire one another?

How is everyone else feeling post-institute? What have you been up to? What would you like to do that might be hindered at the moment? What kinds of things would you like to hear from others who attended? I hope everyone is healthy and feels like they're going in a positive direction. We are here for one another so please feel free to share what's on your mind.

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